Performance of Blast Furnace Slag Cement Concrete in Simulated Aggressive Marine Environment

Performance of concrete with regard to chloride penetration in aggressive marine conditions is studied. Two types of concrete, one with ordinary portland cement and one blended with blast furnace slag cement, cured with different conditions, have been tested in a large scale laboratory experiment. The exposure condition consists of alternating cycles of wetting and drying plus heating and cooling. The effect of microcracks introduced by temperature cycles on the rate of chloride penetration into concrete with both normal portland cement and slag cement is also studied. The measured chloride profiles show a high chloride resistance in slag concrete compared to normal portland concrete in this simulated severe marine environment. While concrete with normal portland cement was adversely affected by elevated temperature curing, the slag cement concrete was less susceptible to curing conditions, at least under the conditions tested.